In difficult conditions, Argentina powered their way to their third successive victory over northern hemisphere opposition, Felipe Contepomi kicking 20 points to help his side defeat Scotland by 25-16 at Murrayfield.
Following on from their all-round excellence in the 31-16 victory over Wales last week, the Argentina pack performed heroics against their Scottish counterparts, their cohesion and upper body strength apparent both in the tight and loose exchanges of the match.
Each time the Scots threatened to take the initiative in this match – mainly through the paced and invention of Gregor Townsend at fly-half – the Puma forwards came to the rescue, slowing Scottish ball at the breakdown, effecting turnovers in midfield or simply rocking the home team back with some mighty forward drives.
Perhaps surprisingly, given the way they had dominated the Welsh eight last week, the Pumas actually looked second best to their opponents in the scrummage and it was this aspect of their play that was very nearly their undoing, the decisive moment in the first half coming at a defensive scrum just five yards out from the Pumas' tryline.
With the score poised at 3-all after 25 minutes, Gregor Townsend and Felipe Contepomi having exchanged a penalty apiece, a nightmare moment for Argentina enabled Scotland to take the lead.
After seemingly squandering a scoring opportunity by throwing crooked into an attacking lineout, some good work from the Scotttish forwards in the ensuing scrum allowed their scrum-half Andy Nicol to pressurized Pichot at the base, causing a clearance kick by the No.9 to skew straight into the arms of Townsend who managed to contain his surprise at the early Christmas gift and stroll over for the try. He could not convert his own try but that made it 8-3 to Scotland.
Contepomi slotted another penalty before half-time and then after the break, Argentina took the lead with another penalty.
The lead was shortlived though with Townsend scoring a long range penalty to make it 11-9 but then a moment of individual magic from Ignacio Corleto lifted the Pumas. The fullback took advantage of some sloppy Scottish defence to dance down the right-hand touchline, handing off John Leslie for the touchdown.Contepomi was on hand with the conversion, but even at 16-11 down the home side refused to capitulate and hit back with a well-worked try through Derrick Lee.
Making amends for his slipshod defence at the other end, Leslie took the ball at pace into the heart of the Pumas' defence, sucking in a number of defenders before releasing lightning quick ball. The ball was moved left, with Cameron Murray off-loading from the tackle into the outstretched arms of Lee coming into the line at pace.
With Townsend not forthcoming with the conversion, the score was level at 16-all, but now Argentina upped the pace of their game as they sensed themselves within sight of another famous victory.
Argentina again took the lead as the match reached the final quarter, Contepomi kicking his fourth penalty after Scotland offended at a breakdown.
Despite some last gasp attacking efforts from the Scots, it was Argentina who fittingly had the last word, with Contepomi landing his fifth penalty to seal it for his side.
Moment of the match: Ignacio Corleto lit up a dismal Edinburgh afternoon, the fullback showing tremendous pace and rugby skill to round three defenders for Argentina's only try.
Man of the match: Despite a shaky start to proceedings as he took some time to accustom himself to some poor conditions, Felipe Contepomi quickly regained his composure to eclipse his opposite number Gregor Townsend and help the Pumas record their fourth victory over Scotland.
Villain of the match: If the match failed to come to life for vast stretches, much of the blame must be attributed to the Scottish weather with driving rain making it very difficult for either side to play a slick, fast-paced game.
The Teams:
Argentina: 1 Omar Hasan Jalil, 2 Federico Mendez, 3 Mauricio Reggiardo, 4 Rimas Alvarez Kairelis, 5 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 6 Rolando Martin, 7 Santiago Phelan, 8 Gonzalo Longo Elia, 9 Agustin Pichot, 10 Felipe Contepomi, 11 Diego Albanese, 12 Lisandro Arbizu (c), 13 Jose Orengo, 14 Gonzalo Camardon, 15 Ignacio Corletto
Reserves: Roberto Grau, Lucas Ostiglia
Unused: Martin Durand, Nicolas Fernandez Miranda, Mario Ledesma Arocena, Gonzalo Quesada, Bernardo Stortoni
Scotland: 1 Tom Smith (c), 2 Gordon Bulloch, 3 Mattie Stewart, 4 Stuart Grimes, 5 Scott Murray, 6 Andrew Mower, 7 Jason White, 8 Jon Petrie, 9 Andy Nicol, 10 Gregor Townsend, 11 Roland Reid, 12 John Leslie, 13 James McLaren, 14 Cammie Murray, 15 Derrick Lee
Reserves: George Graham, Gordon Simpson
Unused: Iain Fullarton, Gordon Ross, Graeme Burns, Andrew Henderson, Steve Scott
Attendance: 45113
Referee: Jutge j.
Points Scorers:
Argentina
Tries: Corletto I. 1
Conv: Contepomi F. 1
Pen K.: Contepomi F. 6
Scotland
Tries: Lee D.J. 1, Townsend G.P.J. 1
Pen K.: Townsend G.P.J. 2
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